


Red Planet, Yellow Sky

by aph_pasta



Series: Que Será, Será [3]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/F, Future AU, Mars AU, scifi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 23:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18456608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aph_pasta/pseuds/aph_pasta
Summary: Olympus-Tharsis deliveries. From the Milky Way to Andromeda, we can get you whatever you need, as soon as you need it.





	Red Planet, Yellow Sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SnowyWolff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnowyWolff/gifts).



> I wrote this for a space-themed fic trade with Snowywolff and I'm so glad I had this chance! Building the setting was really fun and this reminded me how much I love reading and writing scifi. I really hope to write more scifi in the future, but for now, I hope you all enjoy this!!!

Erzsebet knew very few who had been to Isidis Basin. At one time, to know someone who had been there and lived to tell about it was quite rare. Now, it was just rare to know someone who had been there because there was no point in going. It was a cold, lonely place, red and so dusty that you needed to wrap your entire body in scarves and sheets of heavy cloth to keep it out. Already, in a span of three days, Erzsebet had been forced to leave her buggy over ten times to clean dust out of the engine and peel hardening chunks of soil away from the wheels when they stuck to them. Now, the inside of her buggy was caked with red dust. It  clung to her hair and deposited in clumps beneath her nails. 

 

By the time she reached her destination, it was barely visible. In one of the cities, a terrasphere would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but here, the hulking brown machine blended into the monochrome landscape. It was stopped on the side of a ridge, one of its tank-like tires braced against a mound of rocks. Erzsebet stopped the buggy as close as she could and beamed a message to the terrasphere that she had arrived. She waited, nearly twenty minutes, before a panel creaked out of the front of the machine, groaning as it tilted and slid down to the ground, making a ramp. Erzsebet opened the door of the buggy and was immediately assaulted by a heavy gust of wind that spattered her with dust and little pebbles. She cursed and spat at the ground, feeling the crunch of sand when she closed her mouth once more. 

 

A figure came down the ramp from the terrasphere, clunking towards her in a heavy metal suit. It was connected to the machine by a long silver tube coming out of the back. Erzsebet opened the trunk of the buggy and pulled out a large black box, bound shut with strips of silver electrical tape. “Delivery for T-70-19, that’s you, right?” she asked, nearly having to yell over the howl of the wind. The figure gave her a thumbs up, then motioned for her to follow. Erzsebet was led up the ramp, into the front compartment of the terrasphere. The ramp closed behind them, leaving them in a dimly lit room. She’d been through decontamination plenty of times before, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. A powerful jet of air started at the ceiling, running slowly down her body and forcing her to grit her teeth and brace herself against its strength. Once that was done and all the dust had been blown off of her, she heard slow grinding from the belly of the machine, and felt a heavy pressure around her. When she breathed in, allowing the sheets of scales on her neck to lift slightly so she could fully take in the fresh air, Erzsebet could practically feel the richness of the oxygen rushing into her lungs. She turned to her companion, watching a pair of dacron gloves lift up a heavy metal helmet and place it on a hook. 

 

“You’re an Earthie, aren’t you?” Erzsebet asked, looking at the soft blue eyes peeking back at her over the high collar of the suit. 

 

The person carefully unzipped the front of the suit and pulled her arms out of the sleeves. “I guess you could call me that,” she replied, turning away from Erzsebet as she pushed down the suit and stepped out of it. She punched in a few numbers on a keypad, and the door in front of them slid open, allowing them to step into a larger, completely round room. There was a narrow walkway in the center, flanked on either side by rows and rows of plants. The entire inside of the terrasphere was covered in plants, except for a little office and kitchen setup in one corner and a bedroom and bathroom setup in the other. 

 

“Where do you want me to leave this?” Erzsebet asked, gesturing at the box she had braced against her hip.

 

“Oh, just right there,” the other woman said, offering her a smile. “I’ll be taking the supplies outside anyway, I need to repair a faulty emission valve.”

 

Erzsebet nodded in understanding. “Oh, so that’s why you’re stopped.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Well, to be completely honest, this really isn’t a pleasant place to be stuck. Nothing and nobody for kilometers around.”

 

The woman shrugged and started to walk towards the kitchenette. “It’s alright, I’ll make the most of it. It’s nice to have some company, though. Would you like to stay for tea?”

 

Erzsebet glanced back towards the machine’s entry chamber. She knew she should be going, but sitting down with a cup of tea and having a quick chat did sound nice, especially after so many days of travel. “Alright, it can’t hurt,” she decided. “I guess I should introduce myself. Erzsebet, with Olympus-Tharsis deliveries. From the Milky Way to Andromeda, we can get you whatever you need, as soon as you need it,” she winked and gave a soft chuckle, which made the other woman laugh.”

 

“I’m Katyusha. I don’t really think there is any sort of terrasphere slogan, but if there was one, I’d say it.” She turned on the sink and filled a little steel kettle with water, then placed it on a hotplate. When she rolled her sleeves up, Erzsebet noticed metal braces snaking down her arms, part of the heavy exoskeleton that Earthies had to wear in the low gravity. 

 

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen an Earthie. Don’t think I’ve ever seen one as young as you,” Erzsebet blurted, not even realizing until after she’d said it that the remark could have possibly been a little offensive. Thankfully, Katyusha didn’t seem to be bothered by it, and she just knelt down, looking for something in a cabinet.

 

“I’m flattered that you think I’m young,” she said, as she stood up and placed half a loaf of bread on the counter. 

 

“Well, how old are you?”

 

Katyusha raised her eyebrows at this, but she was smiling in an amused way. “Seventeen. On Mars, at least. I’ve been here since I was two and a half.”

 

“So you’re not really an Earthie, then.”

 

“I don’t remember much of Earth, so I guess not.” 

 

“I flew by it once. On a trip to see my grandmother in the Venus cloud-colonies. It’s very…” Erzsebet shrugged, not knowing how to put things kindly.

 

Thankfully, Katyusha finished for her: “...brown. It’s sad what’s been done to it. I’ve heard now you can barely see the planet for all the rocket debris in the atmosphere.”

 

Erzsebet nodded solemnly. She could feel the heaviness of the mood in the room, and just as she had begun to think about the fact that she’d ruined the entire conversation, the tea kettle began to whistle and Katyusha was distracted by it. She turned the hotplate off and poured steaming water into two mismatched mugs. She set them both down on the table, along with the loaf of bread, a plate of various fruit preserves, and a package of cookies. “Here, come sit,” she said, offering a chair to Erzsebet. The exoskeleton beneath her clothes squeaked as she sat, and her pale cheeks reddened when she blew on her tea to cool it down. Erzsebet sat down as well and looked over the neat handwritten labels on the preserves.

 

“You must have done a lot of travelling as a delivery worker. Do you have any interesting stories?” Katyusha asked as she took a few sugarcubes out of a ceramic cup with a broken handle, and dropped them into her tea.

 

Erzsebet smiled and leaned back, thoughtfully drumming her fingers on the side of her mug. “I’ve got a lot. I’ve done some really cool deliveries, I think my favorite was to Neptune. I was there during the diamond rains, delivering new equipment to a science research base orbiting the planet. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” She could see Katyusha leaning forward, holding onto her mug with both hands, intrigued, so she continued. “I got to fly next to a comet once, too, that was really cool. You wouldn’t believe how fast those things can go.”

 

“I bet that would be cool,” Katyusha said, a wistful smile on her face. “I wish I could travel more.”

 

“Well, you get to travel around Mars. It must be nice to see it from the ground, and get to take everything in slowly. I fly and drive everywhere so fast that I don’t really get to appreciate beauty.”

 

Katyusha took a sip of her tea and held on to her cup, just beneath her chin, watching steam swirl up from it. “I’ve never really cared much for the travelling,” she admitted, and the thought that she’d never taken the time to appreciate slow travel briefly crossed her mind. “I do this more for the lifestyle. I like gardening, nurturing things and bringing them to life. It’s like those Earthie pioneers who came here with bags of Earth soil and planted potatoes. Everything seems all brown and red, and you’re the reason there’s a bit of green.” She set down her tea and glanced down at the neat rows of radishes and bell peppers adjacent to the walkway. “And the outcome- I know I won’t be around for it, but I want us to have our planet back, for Earthies to be able to walk around outside and not need oxygen. I used to look at those pictures in the school books, that showed all the forests and water and jungles, and I want to help bring those back.”

 

“I see.” Erzsebet leaned forward and rested her chin on her hands. “Y’know, you’re a good egg. I like you.”

 

Katyusha blushed and tried to hide it by staring at her tea and blowing on it, even though it was at the perfect temperature.

 

“Really. There’s not many like you. I meet all kinds- Earthies, GenMods, half-breeds; and none of them ask me in for tea or remind me why their job’s important. I’ve met lots who only really care about themselves.”

 

“Well, selfishness is what forced everyone to move here,” Katyusha murmured. Erzsebet nodded in agreement.

 

A comfortable silence lapsed between them, punctuated only by the sounds of Katyusha sipping her tea and Erzsebet eating the cookies she’d been offered. Even after their cups were empty and they were both too full of bread and jam and cookies to have any more, the two stayed at the table, chatting quietly about everything and nothing. 

 

What eventually pulled them out of their cozy little world in the terrasphere was the buzzing of the commpad clipped to Erzsebet’s belt. She unhooked it and read the message printing in little black letters on the screen- she’d just been assigned another delivery and needed to drive to the Olympus Mons manufacturing outpost to pick up the package. 

 

“Looks like I’ve got to go,” she said as she rose out of the chair, clipping the commpad back to her belt and stretching her arms above her head until her fingertips brushed against the leaves of the plants dangling down from the ceiling. 

 

Katyusha gave a sad smile and stood up as well. 

 

“I wanted to thank you for tea, and for chatting with me.” Erzsebet looked down at her, watching her dainty fingers play with the hem of her sweater. “I won’t forget that. It’s not every day you meet someone so kind.”

 

She could see Katyusha start blushing immediately. She’d always found it interesting how Earthies’ skin was so thin and delicate that it could show all the blood rushing to their cheeks when they were flustered. “I’d like you to come back,” Katyusha murmured. The blush had spread to the tips of her ears. “You’re always welcome here for tea.”

 

Erzsebet grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied, and started walking towards the entry chamber. Katyusha followed, punching in the code on the other side so the door slid down between them. Once the room had depressurized, the outer ramp slid open, and the acrid, chalky smell of Mars rushed in. Katyusha waved at her, a cheerful smile on her face, and Erzsebet waved back, before turning and walking down the ramp, back to her buggy.

 

\--

 

Erzsebet hummed as she scrolled through the list of newly assigned deliveries. She wasn’t paying much attention, just looking to see where her name came up, when she was suddenly stopped by a familiar name listed under recipients: Katyusha Braginskaya. 

 

\--

 

This time, the terrasphere was sitting at the bottom of a large crater. It was surrounded by rows and rows of green, save for two red dirt paths for the tracks to drive in and out of. Erzsebet drove through the left track mark, as it was almost twice the width of her buggy, and parked just in front of the terrasphere. She beamed a signal and got out, stretching and sighing contentedly as she looked around at all the plants. Even after more than a year, she remembered exactly how Katyusha planted things. Every row was a certain crop, all starting and ending in the same place, with three fingers of space between each plant. These ones had little metal signs pressed into the soil at each end and Erzsebet knelt down for a moment to look at one that had a corncob neatly embossed onto it. 

 

She stood up when she heard the creaking of the terrasphere’s ramp, and felt her heart start to pound nervously as it lowered further and further. This time, the figure that came out was dressed in a soft suit; a layer for warmth, a layer to shield against radiation, and a supplemental oxygen pack strapped to the back. 

 

“Erzsebet?”

 

She nodded, a silly grin coming on to her face. She stood still for a moment, before impulsively dropping the package and jumping forward to hug Katyusha.

 

“I… I’m so surprised! I didn’t think I’d see you again!” Her voice was muffled slightly from the heavy mask strapped to her face, but when Erzsebet looked down at the tinted polycarbonate, she could make out the deep blue of her eyes. Katyusha stepped back, leaving her gloved hands against Erzsebet’s forearms, and looked up at her, taking in her every feature just to make sure she was still the Erzsebet she’d been when they’d first met. “Would you like to come in for tea?” she asked, and Erzsebet nodded excitedly.

 

Just as she had done before, Erzsebet carried the package into the first chamber of the terrasphere and stood still as they were decontaminated. She watched Katyusha peel off the layers of her suit and punch numbers in on the door’s keypad with an elegant, practiced efficiency. 

 

As she walked down the center of the sphere, following Katyusha to the kitchen, Erzsebet remembered just how cozy she had felt when she’d first come here, and she couldn’t help but smile as she glanced at the greenery lining the walls and ceiling. “So what have you been working on since the last time I saw you?” she asked.

 

Katyusha smiled and started opening cabinets in the kitchen, pulling out mugs and plates. “Quite a lot. I’m stationed here for now since the crater is pretty sheltered from storms. I got a deradiator so I could filter the soil around here and started planting crops. Once the oxygen concentration goes up high enough, there are plans to start building a city around the crater.”

 

Erzsebet sat down at the table and waited patiently as Katyusha set down a little tray piled with jars of pickled vegetables and a bowl of fresh strawberries. “How long do you think this project will take?”

 

“Fifty years or so. Mars years, mind you. But it’ll be worth it. Then you won’t have to worry about getting sick from radiation, and Earthies will be able to go out without oxygen suits.

 

“You won’t get to see the city, though,” Erzsebet murmured. She twisted the leafy top off of a strawberry and popped it into her mouth.

 

Katyusha sat down across from her and poured hot water into each of their mugs. “I don’t mind. I’m helping future generations, that’s what matters. After I do this crater, I’ll go on to somewhere else and plant. I’ll just keep planting, I like knowing that I’m doing something good.” She searched through her little basket of teabags, and pulled out a bundle of cloth tied with a string. “This is dried lavender and mint leaves from the garden. Try it.”

 

Erzsebet accepted the teabag and gently placed it in her mug. She watched steam swirl around it and twisted the frayed end of the ribbon around her finger.

 

“I wanted to give you some tea and preserves and things before you go. To thank you. And uh…” Katyusha’s cheeks pinkened, “so you remember me.”

 

“You thought I forgot about you?” 

 

“Well, not exactly, but I was worried you would get busy and you just wouldn’t have time to come visit…” she trailed off and looked down at her tea, embarrassed.

 

Erzsebet reached out and carefully pushed her fingers under Katyusha’s, loosening them from her mug, and squeezed her hand. “Of course I didn’t forget you. I can’t forget you, you’re unforgettable. It’s so rare to find someone like you, you’re one in a billion.” 

 

Her cheeks turned red and she looked a little startled. “Really?” she asked, still unsure that Erzsebet was telling the truth.

 

“Really. I saw your name on the delivery list and switched some things around so I could deliver to you. I wanted to see you again. I’ve been thinking about you all the time.”

 

“Oh… I… I don’t know what to say,” Katyusha gave a nervous laugh. 

 

“Say you want to see me again. Not just when I have to deliver something to you, but when I have a spare moment and can come find you. Say you want me to come visit whenever I can so I can get to talk to you more and see the amazing things you’re doing for this planet.”

 

Katyusha couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, please come visit. You’re such good company and it gets a little lonely in here sometimes, but I love talking to you and hearing about the deliveries you do.”

 

“Okay,” Erzsebet murmured. She pulled her hand away from Katyusha’s, then gently hooked their pinkies together. “This is how Earthies do it, right? Promises, I mean.”

 

Katyusha laughed softly. “Yeah, it’s called a pinky promise.”

 

“It’s kinda weird,” Erzsebet wiggled her pinky a little, “I promise that I’ll come back and visit you as much as possible.”

 

“I guess I should promise something too.” Katyusha paused, still blushing a little. “I promise I’ll always invite you in for tea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Some science-y notes you all might enjoy (if you're space nerds like I am).  
> Mars is about half the size of Earth and far enough away from the sun that one Mars year is equivalent to about 2 Earth years. A day on Mars is a little longer than 24 hours, and sunrises and sunsets are blue. Because Mars lost its magneto sphere and most of its atmosphere, it really isn't all that habitable. Early settlers on Mars would face such dangers as high levels of radiation (both from solar winds and the soil), loss of muscle and bone mass and vision due to the planet's low gravity. What Katyusha is doing, terraforming, is a process that involves capturing the CO2 put into a primitive sort of pre-atmosphere and using it to grow plants, which release O2, or oxygen. Terraforming would also involve putting liquid water back on mars and filtering the soil so it can grow plants without posing a danger to humans. Even with these improvements, adaptations are still required to live full-time on Mars. Erzsebet is part of a genetically modified subspecies of humans whose thicker skin can withstand higher radiation, who use gills instead of their mouths to breathe so dust and other particles can be filtered out, whose eyes have a second clear lid for protection, and whose bodies are made to withstand microgravity with minimal or no ill effects. She can leave covered cities and venture out into Mars without it being dangerous because she can hold her breath for longer and requires less oxygen to live (though being in low-oxygen conditions will quickly deplete her energy). Katyusha, being completely human, must rely on man-made technology to keep her safe, and her lifespan will likely be shorter than that of someone who was genetically modified. Actually going to Mars will be quite difficult, and terraforming could take thousands of years, but I feel like it is time for us to start looking to other planets, so we can become a multiplanet civilization and hopefully venture out even further into space and learn even more. That being said, our home planet is all we have for now, and we should take care of it as though we will live on it and only it forever. It is our responsibility as the only known intelligent life forms in the universe to set an example for others and care for our planet, in return for it creating and sustaining us as well as millions of other life forms.


End file.
